Second Stage Productions The vision of the Second Stage is to bring non musical works to the Round Barn audience in an intimate environment, stripped down to the essentials, in order to focus on the acting and writing of each author's work.

Theatre
For Young Audiences
Perfect for introducing children to the theatre, with a special question
and answer time afterward. For school groups and home schoolers.

What People Are Saying

"Of all the
regional theatres with which I have worked, The Round Barn Theatre
is my favorite."
-Joseph Stein,
author of Plain and Fancy, Fiddler on the Roof, and Zorba

New book on building the successful theatre company features The Round Barn Theatre

Lisa Mulcahy has just published her second edition of "Building the Successful Theatre Company." It is newly revised and updated to address the current financial realities of producing theatre in New York and across the country. This second edition features thirteen profiles of successful theatre companies such as Steppenwolf Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. It also includes organizations not featured in the first edition: the Geffen Playhouse, Godspeed Musicals and The Round Barn Theatre at Amish Acres, the only commercial theatre among the featured companies.

It concentrates on The Round Barn Theatre's 25 year run of Plain and Fancy and its nontraditional methods of producing regional theatre.

The
Dramatist Magazine By Gregory Bossler

Joe Stein sent me a copy of the
January, 2006 issue of The Dramatist: The Journal
of The Dramatists Guild of America, Inc. The issue's
cover articles
"Dialogue or Duet?: Composers & Librettists," features
under
"Writers & Their Work," Joseph Stein,
an interview by Gregory Bossler. The six page article
covers Stein's path to Broadway from social worker
to radio skit writer, to Sid Ceaser's "Your
Show of Shows,"
to "Plain and Fancy," his first Broadway
musical, followed nine years later by "Fiddler
on the Roof."

In the interview Stein said, "Several
years ago, I found out that Plain and Fancy is
having a unique life. It has been playing continually
at the Round Barn Theatre in Nappanee, Indiana,
for 20 years. It seems there's a large Amish community
there and it's become a tourist center. Buses come
everyday. (I wish!) In the morning, they go to
the rug weaver or the blacksmith or whoever else
is working there, and at night, they see Plain
and Fancy." Our stage was named for and dedicated
to to Joseph Stein in 1997 and he remains our inspiration
and guiding light in every production we mount.

Forty years ago when America was for the first
time in many years at peace and experiencing a
collective optimism saw a nation, Plain and
Fancy opened on Broadway. The critic William
Hawkins of the venerable Scripps-Howard World-Telegram wrote
that the charming new musical, a beautiful and
affecting study of opposites set against the simple
beauty of Amish life "...makes you feel as
if you had on new shoes and your best hat."

Our world has changed, presenting challenges all
but unimaginable to Americans at that gentler time,
yet the poetry and magic of Plain and Fancy endures.

It is a tribute to the wisdom and vernacular eloquence
of the story by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman,
to the delightful lyrics by Arnold Horwitt and
to Albert Hague's bouyant, moving melodies, that
for over nine years Plain and Fancy has
been performed by Amish Acres.

The tender, wry folkways of rural Pennsylvania
have found a home in the Indiana heartland, and
thanks to the great talent and commitment of Amish
Acres, this inspiring musical continues to enchant
audiences of all ages.

On behalf of all of us at Samuel French, I offer
our sincerest best wishes and heartfelt congratulations
for the continued showmanship and artistic excellence
of Amish Acres, as well as the most profound appreciation
and affection to Mr. Joseph Stein who joins you
in commemorating the 40th anniversary of Plain
and Fancy.

Yours most cordially,

Charles R. Van Nostrand
President

SAMUEL FRENCH, Inc.Founded 1830 Incorporated 1899

Play Publishers and Author' Representatives45 West 25th Street, New York, NY 10010-2751